September 08, 2011

Beth has been checking out Lee Hammond books from the library since we lived in Muscatine. She asks for them for Christmas and the ones she owns are well used and tattered.

Earlier this summer Beth discovered that Lee Hammond lived in the area. She found an email address on one of her books and just decided to email her. To her surprise Lee emailed back and invited her to the studio! Even more surprising was that it was only 5 miles away from our house!

Beth fit right in. Lee has lots of furry friends...

While we were visiting I asked Lee if she taught classes for kids. She doesn't BUT she said Beth could just join an adult class. In fact, she had one coming up that was a week long intensive that ran from 9 am - 5 pm.

Hold your horses. (HA!) I have seriously been praying for almost 2 years for a way for Beth to be able to take an art class or have some kind of art instruction or some way to nurture her God-given gift. This is one of those HOLY COW, WOW GOD moments. Isn't it just like God to answer a simple prayer with an unfathomable answer?? This was way beyond anything I could've thought up.

So, at the end of July Beth took an art class. She got up hours before the class started each day. She was beside herself with anticipation. She took more showers and brushed her teeth without being told. :) The week was truly a gift.

And her art work flourished. Lee took a natural gift and fine-tuned it into an amazing art. Beth did several drawings from photographs.

I like the blooms of the trumpet vine...as long as it stays outside. For some reason it takes multiple times for little people to remember that ants spew out of these beauties.

Such peace.

My begonias aren't happy this year. They are not growing very bountifully like usual. But at least they aren't dead. They are still my favorite...and my Grandma's favorite when I was little.

I wish Alex would've been along with us in Oklahoma this past weekend. She'd have loved my cousin's awesome creations that are more than just a garden. My cousin is a master gardner and I felt like I should pay her to walk through her garden. I didn't even get a picture of her art!

One more before I get caught by E. :) He'll be home for lunch soon and ask me what I've done today. hahaha.

While we were in Colorado for that wedding, we took advantage of being so close to the mountains. We ventured up Mt. Evans on Sunday.

On our way up we stopped off at BeauJo's for lunch in Evergreen. It's our favorite!

The only problem with going further up than Evergreen is that I am deathly afraid of heights. I cannot help it. It's like a chemical reaction of some kind in my body and I go berzerk.

Therefore, I was removed from the front seat. My family claimed it was so Alex could take pictures from the front seat but I'm not so sure.

Jake held my hand and tried to keep me calm. I think it was a flashback to his childhood. When he was 5 we had a similar role play on a roller coaster at Lego Land where he had to reassure me over and over that I wasn't going to die.

The scenery was beautiful. Not that I saw it in person much since my eyes were closed but these pictures are awesome.

This is not a sign you want to see going up a mountain!

I might have said somewhere along the line that I love my family more in the foothills. Maybe.

But we'll discuss that in counseling in a few years.

Almost to the top!

The last little bit of the trip is a hike. It was freeeeeeezing cold. I was fighting off the puky feeling and Lucy was cold and feelin' the altitude so we waited in the car.

I am so glad I waited in the car. I mean, really. Can you imagine me clinging to that snow for my life? I would have totally lost it if I was walking behind Jake.

Their lips are blue!

The bravest of the Buller family!

This was a good idea! Too bad it didn't turn out better...

He's hot. :) Even in my dad's Farm Bureau hat.

Going down was much easier. Maybe because I took a Dramamine and slept?

We ate dinner that night with some old friends. At 8 pm we went to a Starbucks to use wifi and booked a hotel for the night on Hotwire. We also found a cabin in the middle of nowhere for the remaining part of our mini vacation.

We had a frigid outdoor swim at the hotel just before 11 pm. Jake came down with a bout of altitude sickness or somethin' and puked his brains out most of the night. These are the things we never want to forget. :)